


Bingo Fic: "Needing Help from Someone They're Arguing With"

by taylor_tut



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Hurt James T. Kirk, Kirk Whump, Sick Character, Sickfic, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:08:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21626581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taylor_tut/pseuds/taylor_tut
Summary: Jim is hurt on a mission and he and Bones fight about it. Later, it appears as though the wound wasn't as simple as they'd thought, and he calls for Bones even though they're still fighting.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 205





	Bingo Fic: "Needing Help from Someone They're Arguing With"

Kirk knew that Bones could be temperamental, particularly when Kirk’s life was at stake. It was easy to irritate him, sure, but much more difficult to make him actually ANGRY, and Kirk was an expert at doing it, because his temper had a hair-trigger for seeing Jim held up at gunpoint or beaming down to a planet at the first sign of danger. Recklessness, Bones always called it, and he rolled his eyes when Jim tried to explain to him that it was his job as the Captain to ensure the safety of his crew and the inhabitants of the planets that Starfleet vowed to protect, even in the face of deadly threats. 

Especially in the face of deadly threats. 

That was what had happened last night, and after an unbecoming shouting match in the med bay, now they weren’t speaking to one another, which was a crying shame, because Kirk was actually pretty sure he was dying. 

They’d had to flee from fire so quickly that Kirk, Uhara, and Sulu had just fled into the nearest brush they could find to hide until Chekov was able to lock onto their signals and beam them up. It had been a close call—Sulu had very nearly been shot, only to be shoved out of the way at the last minute by Jim, who’d taken the hit instead, and that was what had spurred the argument. While Bones had patched up his arm, which, for the record, STILL hurt more than Kirk felt it had any right to, he’d lectured him about self-preservation, about making smart choices rather than brave and dumb ones, and had even had the audacity to go so far as to say that Kirk should rethink his position as Captain if he wasn’t going to learn how to do the job without endangering his crew. He’d refused to take it back because, as far as Kirk could tell, he’d meant it. 

At the time, he’d just been angry, but now, as he lay on his bed, searing pain shooting through his arm and threatening to burn the rest of his body alive, he couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps Bones was right. Maybe he DID always screw things up. Maybe the crew would be better off if he just stayed in here and didn’t bother anyone about his arm…

He shook his head to clear it. No, he decided, these were not rational thoughts. Something really had to be wrong to be doubting himself like this, and he was willing to bet it was some kind of reaction, typical of him, to whatever he’d been shot with earlier. He needed the med bay. 

As much as he hated to think it, he needed Bones.

He sat up in bed and everything spun around him sickeningly, so much so that he didn’t realize that he’d been listing to the side until he woke up mostly upside-down with one cheek on the floor. Not an uncommon position for him to find himself in after a night of drinking, but without the alcohol, it was much more insidious. 

He straightened out, but his efforts to get back onto the bed were thwarted immediately by the dizziness and he found himself exhausted after doing nothing more than adjusting so he could lie flat on the ground. 

The next time he blinked his eyes open, it was to near-blinding pain in every joint in his body and the general feeling that a lot of time had passed. He had less hope now of being able to get up off the floor than even the last time he’d tried, so instead, he reached into his pocket for his comm. He couldn’t think clearly, but Bones’ number was muscle memory rather than a conscious thought, and his thumb did the work for him. 

“Go for Dr. McCoy,” Bones answered, and Jim felt tears spring into his eyes involuntarily at the relief it brought. Bones’ voice, soft and expectant, Bones who might sometimes be harsh or even downright mean, but who always made the pain stop. 

Apparently, he’d been silent for too long, possibly even having missed Bones prompting him to speak a few more times, because the next sound he heard was the sound of Bones hanging up the comm, probably assuming that it was a pocket-dial. They happened from time to time. He keyed in Bones’ code again and the answer this time was much more irritable. 

“McCoy,” he replied curtly, and this time, Jim wasn’t risking wasting any time. 

“Bones,” he rasped. “Hey.”

“Jim?” Bones asked incredulously. “Damn it, Jim, were you the one who called a minute ago, too?” He couldn’t sort through all those words to be able to reply. “I’m not apologizing, if that’s what you’re looking for.”

“Don’t care,” Jim said honestly, his tone wavering dangerously between whining and full-on crying. “Just make it stop.” 

“Jim? What’s the matter?” He could hear the sound of doors slamming and Bones muttering rushed, “excuse me,”s as he presumably hurried through the med bay and to the hallway for the elevator. The elevator that would bring him to Jim’s room. He was on his way and he hadn’t even had to ask. 

“Hurts,” Jim whined. 

“What hurts?” When he couldn’t bring himself to reply, Bones sighed. “I’m almost there, okay? Just hang tight. I’ll be there in just a minute.” 

He lost track of time again.

Jim was vaguely aware of being asked questions he had no answers to and being touched and probed uncomfortably before having the hairs that were stuck to his forehead with sweat pushed back gently and comfortingly. He felt the hypos when they went in, but the relief that they brought was so immediate that he blacked out once more, thinking only of how Bones had come through for him once again, even though they still clearly had things to work out between themselves. By the sound of the worried medical staff, he anticipated plenty of time in the med bay for them to do so. 


End file.
